Tuesday, July 25, 2017

My Kind Of Crosstown, Part I - Chris the Cubs Fan Talks Sox

Things just
don’t happen like you expect them to…

Or do they?

What you
would expect is the rebuilding White Sox to lose (badly) in the Crosstown
Series to the Cubs, who came into baseball’s second half with a record of 8-1,
the best in baseball. But that didn’t
happen. As my dad always says: “That’s
Baseball.” (Clever, right?)

And here I
was—with those expectations—flexing my National League rules muscles with Kyle
Hendricks giving the Cubs the early lead on Monday with an RBI groundout. The Sox staff couldn’t possibly know what to
do with a bat in their hands? Nor could
their no-name roster handle last year’s ERA leader. Hendricks didn’t last long and threw a lot of
early pitches in his first start back from the DL, unfortunately.

But no
matter. The Cubs recently rejuvenated offense would soon begin their mash parade
on Miguel Gonzalez. After all, he would
worsen as the game went on—as his ERA has risen from 3.56 in the first three
innings of his starts to close to 5.00 in the 4th or later. Surely the Cubs could handle a placehold
starter? Or they’d just wait to attack
the dilapidated Sox bullpen whose best members have been dealt for prospects
and a chance to win on a contending team this year.

All the
while, the buzz from the crosstown rivalry in the stands on a picture-perfect
day at Wrigley Field didn’t inspire or spill onto the field for the home
team. The Cubs simply looked scared or
overwhelmed by playing their counterpart from the South side. Meanwhile, the White Sox—as it seems they
typically do against the Cubs—came to play and win. “Pathetic” was the word I used to describe
the Cubs performance on Monday.

Because,
after all, there were some things that were not surprising in that game. As I mentioned, the Sox came to play. The Cubs left 12. men. on. base. 12. (Opportunities
abound for that young Cubs offense but even last year where so many RISP were
overlooked by an abundance of runs, they have had to rely on far fewer chances
and an inability to capitalize on quality chances for potential runs this
season.) And Joe Maddon asked for and
received his death/loss wish when he called upon BOTH Justin Grimm and Koji
Uehara to relieve Hendricks in the 5th and 6th. Seriously: if you send Uehara out to throw a
wobbly splitter over the heart of the plate at 87mph every pitch, you’re gonna
have a bad time.

In the end,
give Gonzalez credit. He pitched very
well and took advantage of the fact the Cubs have never seen him. Swarzak was also able to conquer the
butterflies and lock down his first save, even with a patented late-inning
“Fake Rally” brewing. Also- should I
start calling Adam Engel (…who?) “New Spanky?”

Tuesday was
a little different and a little more “fun”—for many reasons. Wilson Contreras set the tone with the 3-run
homer in the first yet John Lackey did a very John Lackey thing in giving up a
2-run double to his counterpart, Carlos Rodon.
(Quit complaining about the pitcher’s hitting rule—it’s not so bad when that happens, eh? Although of course I’m biased because the
Cubs pitchers have been among the highest home run hitting staffs in baseball
over the past 5-10 years.) When Big John
also managed to plunk back-to-back batters in the 5th, once again,
the sort of mindless hype given to this series reared its ugly head. (Seriously: everyone needs to chill out about
these games. The moment shouldn’t be too
big for the Cubs to face their “rival” from across town…and I thought the Sox
wanted to tank? Just play baseball, people!) Manager Rick Renteria tried to
suggest that these wayward fastballs were intentional (and later retaliated. Don’t you DARE hit our prized new
rookie! There, there, Yoany…) No Ricky, he didn’t want to purposefully load
the bases, even with two outs. He’s
actually just that bad.

(What’s more
fun—I can assure you—is seeing Kris Bryant actually argue a third strike
call. I think I even saw him utter a
nasty word. So he is human after all…
Although if I was him I’d want to be ejected after shooting a baseball off my
tibia… it was still a terrible call, but I digress…)

Still, it
turned out more “as we expected” with a 7-2 win in the end for the Cubs. And that’s ok. Ever since the mighty schedule people have
changed this series to a measly 4 games in a row at the end of July every year,
the hype has been diminished if not snuffed out. With the current state of affairs, the Cubs
should win this thing more and the Sox should sort of welcome that (with a
“better draft position” at stake, according to another of my Sox fan
friends.) Let the players settle it on
the field with both teams trying but not taking this too seriously. My prediction of a road-team sweep on both
sides is unfortunately off the table… but my non-hot take of a split of this
series is still at large… That’s things as we expect, right?